


in difficulty with sight

by Miraphina Atherton (mew_tsubaki)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Age Difference, F/M, One-Sided Attraction, Pre-Voldemort Era, a pining young elph is so sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 22:44:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19029466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mew_tsubaki/pseuds/Miraphina%20Atherton
Summary: Back in those days, Elphias saw what he wanted to see.





	in difficulty with sight

**Author's Note:**

> The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. Read, review, and enjoy!

In the light, she looked just like them. In the light, she didn't have anxious bags under her eyes.

Elphias would describe her as "young at heart," because it didn't seem plausible that she was Grindelwald's great-aunt. Bathilda Bagshot seemed like the comely older woman up the street who smelled of ink, parchment, and treacle tart paste. _Maybe_ she looked like the mother of Grindelwald, with a silver streak running along the left side of her head, messily pinned into her black bun as though it were a ribbon she'd decided to wear to make her pretty like Ariana.

Bathilda treated Albus with some trepidation when he and Elphias stopped by to "collect" Gellert, what Elphias was sure was the source of the bags under her eyes. Elphias didn't like Gellert and didn't try to hide it, so he wondered if Bathilda shared his feelings. She never looked disapprovingly at him, only at Albus. "They're thick as thieves," she would say of Albus and Gellert. But then she'd turn and pass a freshly baked good to Elphias. She knew he didn't get into the trouble they did, but Elphias wasn't willing to rub off on Gellert even for her sake. She was a sweet woman, but Gellert—ugh, Gellert was beyond anyone's help, including his.

Once, Elphias asked her what she thought of her great-nephew. "He's only great by hyphen," she retorted bitterly. Elphias was slow to get it at first, but he did.

"Adopt me instead," he joked to lighten the mood.

Bathilda stopped what she was doing—writing, yet again—and stared at him. Then a smile broke out on her face like the sun dawning in the heavens (at least to Elphias). "You're fine just the way you are, Elph."

She patted his shoulder, getting ink stains on his jacket, and returned to her work, never minding the somewhat desolate look on the young wizard's face.

Elphias shrugged it off. Witches and wizards could live for nearly forever. So he had a lifetime to get her to see otherwise.

**Author's Note:**

> I like this! Teenage Elphias fawning over a younger Bathilda… It kinda has potential. :+
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew-tsubaki :D
> 
> 2017 note: Oh, yes, this minor ship that makes me all :'). I rarely write much further past Voldemort's younger days, but this was a nice departure from my usual eras. I do wonder more about Dumbly's younger days, especially with him and Gellert and Elphias and Horace. Ahh, I rly should write more of them, and of this cute little ship…! Imagine Bathilda growing to be a spinster who's been flattered by Elphias' flirtations for decades… :')))


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